Sunday, May 29, 2011

Marcellus Shale: Shift Happens

Gas drilling and healthy living?
Dimock, PA
Used by permission
Is healthy living compatible with shale gas extraction?  Spectra Energy Watch has published an article entitled "Shift Happens" which suggests that public opinion may indeed be shifting in regard to the advisability of continuing down the path of shale gas drilling.  Apparently gas companies are starting to get worried.  The testimony of people whose lives have been destroyed, whose health has been seriously affected, whose property has been irreversibly damaged,  is having a major impact on public opinion.  Will the shattered lives of these people serve as a warning to all of us to reconsider the direction we are taking?  Will our national energy policy, now determined by gas company CEOs and their corporate boards,  veer off the present path to a saner, healthier, and sustainable future?  The nuclear industry lost the confidence of the public after Three Mile Island, and billions of dollars that had been invested were abandoned.  David Ciarlone, manager of Global Energy Services for Alcoa, said,
It's been 30 years since Three Mile Island, and nuclear is just gaining traction again...Without significant changes, shale gas, like nuclear power, could be more remembered for promises made than hopes realized.
Read the article here.

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